KR101146194B1 - Control device - Google Patents

Abstract

The controller can stably control the amount of light emitted from the backlight unit with a simple configuration. The control apparatus includes a current supply unit for supplying a predetermined driving current to the light emitting element group, a light emission amount detecting unit for detecting the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element group, a temperature detecting unit for detecting the temperature of the backlight unit, and a light emitting element for each color. Supplying a constant driving current to a blue light emitting element according to a reference light output unit for outputting a reference light amount, a light emission amount detected by the light emission amount detection unit, a temperature detected by the temperature detection unit, and a reference light amount output from the reference light output unit, And a control unit for controlling the current supply unit to supply a predetermined driving current to the red and green light emitting devices according to a constant driving current supplied to the blue light emitting devices.

Description

Control device

1 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional control apparatus for adjusting the light emission amount of a backlight unit.

2 is an exploded perspective view of a transmissive liquid crystal display panel applied to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a light emitting block.

4 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of the transmissive liquid crystal display panel of FIG. 2.

5 is a schematic block diagram of a control device according to the present invention for adjusting and controlling the amount of light emitted from the backlight unit.

6 is a graph showing the relationship between device temperature and luminance of each color.

7 is a graph showing the relationship between the temperature of LED substrates of each color and the current supplied to the light emitting elements of each color.

8 is a graph showing a change in luminance over time after the switch is turned on.

The present invention includes, by reference, the subject of Japanese Patent Document JP 2004-238790, filed August 18, 2004 with the Japan Patent Office, and the entire contents contained therein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device installed in a liquid crystal display device or the like for controlling the light emission rate of a backlight.

Like a self-emission type plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display can provide a large display screen and is lighter, thinner, and has a lower power consumption than a display device composed of cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Due to its advantages, it is widely used in televisions and various display devices. The liquid crystal display device has a pair of transparent substrates of a selected size among a plurality of standardized sizes, and the liquid crystal is filled in a gap separated from each other and maintained in a sealed state. Thereafter, in order to change the direction of the liquid crystal molecules to change the light transmittance of the molecules, a voltage is applied to the transparent substrate to optically display a given image.

Since the liquid crystal itself is not a light emitter, the liquid crystal display device generally installs a backlight unit that functions as a light source on the rear side of the liquid crystal panel. The backlight unit is generally a primary light source, and has a photo-conductive plate, a reflective film, a lens sheet or a diffusion film so that display light is supplied to the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel. Conventionally, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) containing mercury or xenon in a sealed state in a fluorescent tube has been used as the primary light source. However, cold cathode fluorescent lamps have a number of problems to be solved. It includes low luminescence brightness, short lifespan, and light nonuniformity due to the presence of low luminance regions on the cathode side.

Large liquid crystal displays generally have an area lit configuration backlight formed by arranging a plurality of long cold cathode fluorescent lamps on the back side of a diffusion plate to provide display light to the liquid crystal panel. The unit is installed. However, such a local lighting backlight unit needs to solve the above problems caused by cold cathode fluorescent lamps. In particular, in the case of a large-sized television having a display screen of 40 inches or more, the demand for high brightness and high uniformity becomes remarkable.

Instead of the cold cathode fluorescent lamp described above, a large number of red, green, and blue tri-color light emitting diodes (hereinafter referred to as LEDs) are formed by two-dimensionally arranging the LED area light backlight unit attracting attention. have. These LED backlight units can be manufactured at low cost due to the drop in LED price and can be operated at low power consumption, so they are used in large liquid crystal panels having high brightness grade for displaying images.

In various backlight units, an optical function sheet block, a diffusion / light guide plate, a light diffusion plate, a reflection for converting a function of display light emitted from a light source Various optical members including a reflection sheet are disposed between the light source unit and the transmissive liquid crystal panel. The light diffusing plate of the backlight unit is generally made of a transparent acrylic resin and provided with an illumination control pattern which is operable to partially transmit and partially reflect display light incident on a position opposite to the light source. [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-301034 discloses a plurality of belt-type light control patterns arranged in an area where they are positioned to face a fluorescent tube, and the plurality of belt-type light control patterns has a plurality of reflection dots. It shows a backlight unit composed of a light diffusion plate formed of. On the light diffusion plate, the reflection points are formed in such a manner that the point area decreases as the distance of the point from the axis of the fluorescent tube increases. In this arrangement, light transmission increases as the distance from the fluorescent tube increases, resulting in uniform light being emitted as a whole.

On the other hand, the LED has a characteristic that the brightness drop changes with the rise and fall of the internal temperature, and the LED of different colors has different characteristics. Therefore, in order to maintain the same and constant brightness level for each color LED, the brightness change of the LED of each color is detected by the optical sensor and the emission ratio of each color LED is corrected in a controlled manner according to the detected value. Needs to be.

In general, the control device of the LED backlight unit performs a feedback control operation to keep the green LED at the same and constant brightness level, and the red and blue LEDs are corrected in a controlled manner.

In the LED brightness correction, it is necessary to consider the change in junction temperature θj which rises due to the temperature change in the green LED. If the variation range of the junction temperature θ j is between 35 ° C. and 95 ° C., it is necessary to perform a feedback control operation so that the current supplied to the green LED increases from 50% or more to the current supplied to the green LED.

In addition, the luminous efficiency of the LED decreases with increasing operation time. For example, when the LED is driven for the light emission operation for about 50,000 hours, during which the junction temperature is maintained at a constant level of 90 ° C, the luminous efficiency drops to about 70 ° C of the initial level. Therefore, when the LED is used as a light source in the television, it is necessary to increase the current supplied to the LED according to the total operating time of the LED in order to maintain the brightness of the LED at a constant level. Furthermore, once the current supplied to the green LED reaches a predetermined value (acceptable limit), it is no longer possible to perform luminance correction. Therefore, if the luminance correction of the LED is no longer possible, the life of the green LED is over.

In order to avoid this problem, the control device 30 for adjusting the light emission rate of the LED generally detects the heat generation amount of the photo-sensors 31a and 31b and the backlight unit for detecting the light emission rate of each LED. The temperature sensor 32, the photosensors 31a and 31b and the sensor input unit 33 for inputting the detected values of the temperature sensor 32, and the memory 34 for storing the life reduction curve and the temperature characteristic curve of the green LED. ), A life timer 35 for counting the total luminous time of the LED, a SW / ON timer 36 for counting each time of the luminous time of the elapsed LED when the power is turned on, and a reference for each color LED. A reference light quantity output unit 37 for outputting the light quantity, a setting condition determination unit 38 for determining the set condition of the LED backlight, and a current for supplying a current according to the determination output of the setting condition determination unit 38 to each LED It consists of a current supply unit 39, the operation unit 40 for generating an operation signal, the backlight It operates to control.

The setting condition determination unit 38 is a detection value input to the sensor input unit 38, the count value of the life timer 35, the count value of the SW / ON timer, the life reduction curve and temperature of the green LED stored in the memory 34 A predetermined calculation is performed on the basis of the characteristic curve, and the calculated value obtained as a result of the calculation is compared with the reference value output from the reference light quantity output section 37. Then, the condition of the LED backlight to be set is determined based on the result of the comparison.

Therefore, the control device 30 having the above configuration performs a feedback control operation to gradually lower the target value for the brightness of each LED along the life reduction curve stored in the memory 34 to allow the current value to be supplied to each LED. It allows you to maintain RGB balance for a long time without reaching the limit.

By the way, when the luminous efficiency of the green LED changes, it is difficult to determine whether the change is due to the end of the life or the change in the junction temperature or the external environment. Therefore, the controller 30 installs a SW / ON timer 36 for counting each time of the light emission time of the LED which has passed after the power switch is turned on, and measures the ambient temperature and the target value to be fed back in consideration of the measured temperature. In order to judge, you need to have a complex program installed on it.

In view of the above technical problem, it is therefore desirable to provide a control unit of a backlight unit capable of stably correcting the chromaticity of the LED backlight of the backlight unit with a simple configuration.

According to the present invention, there is provided a control apparatus for controlling a backlight unit having a light emitting element group including a red light emitting element, a green light emitting element, and a blue light emitting element, wherein light emitting elements of different colors are electrically connected independently. And a control device comprising: current supply means for supplying a predetermined drive current to the light emitting element group; Light emission amount detecting means for detecting an amount of light emitted from the light emitting element group according to the current supplied from the current supply means; Temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of the backlight unit; Reference light quantity output means for outputting a reference light quantity for light emitting elements of each color; According to the light emission amount detected by the light emission amount detection means, the temperature detected by the temperature detection means, and the reference light amount output from the reference light amount output means, a constant driving current is supplied to the blue light emitting element, and Accordingly, the control means is configured to control the current supply means to supply a predetermined driving current to the red and green light emitting devices.

Preferably, the control device according to the present invention further comprises: operation signal generating means for generating a predetermined operation signal; The current supply means changes the value of the constant drive current supplied to the blue light emitting element under the control of the control means according to the operation signal to an arbitrary current value, and the value of the drive current supplied to the red and green light emitting elements to the changed current value. To change accordingly.

Preferably, the operation signal generating means generates an operation signal for operating the brightness of the backlight.

Preferably, the operation signal generating means generates an operation signal for operating the color temperature of the backlight.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a control device according to the present invention installed on a transmissive liquid crystal display panel will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The transmissive liquid crystal display panel 1 is generally used for a television having a large screen no smaller than 40 inches. 2 and 4, the transmissive liquid crystal display panel 1 is a backlight unit fixed to the rear surface of the liquid crystal panel unit 2 to supply display light to the liquid crystal panel unit 2 and the liquid crystal panel unit 2. It consists of (3). The liquid crystal panel unit 2 includes a front frame member 4, a liquid crystal panel 5, and a rear frame member 6, wherein the front frame member 4 and the rear frame member 6 are arranged along an outer peripheral edge thereof. The liquid crystal panel 5 is fixed through the spacers 2a and 2b and the guide member 2c.

Although not shown in detail, the liquid crystal panel 5 is arranged to face each other and separated from each other by means of spacer beads or the like, and the first glass substrate and the second glass substrate kept in a sealed state filled with liquid crystal therebetween. It includes a glass substrate. Voltage is applied to the liquid crystal to change the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules and the light transmittance of the liquid crystal. In the liquid crystal panel 5, a stripe-shaped transparent electrode, an insulating film, and an orientation film are formed on the inner surface of the first glass substrate, while the three primary color filters and the overcoat layer are formed. layer), a stripe-shaped transparent electrode, and an alignment film are formed on the inner surface of the second glass substrate. In the liquid crystal panel 5, a deflection film and a phase difference film are adhered to the surface of the first glass substrate and the surface of the second glass substrate, respectively.

In the liquid crystal panel 5, an alignment film made of polyimide is applied to arrange the liquid crystal molecules in the horizontal direction on the middle plane, while the deflection film and the retardation film change the wavelength characteristic to achromatic or white. In order to display a color image, a full color image, which is generally accepted as an image, is produced by the color filter. However, the structure of the liquid crystal panel 5 is not limited to that described above and may optionally have a structure such as any conventionally known liquid crystal panel.

The backlight unit 3 emits heat generated inside the light emitting unit 7 and a light emission unit 7 arranged on the rear side of the liquid crystal panel unit 2 to supply display light. And a back panel 9 for fixing the light emitting unit 7 and the heat generating unit 8, the back panel 9 also having a front surface. When combined with the frame member 4 and the rear frame member 6, it functions as a fixing member of the cabinet. The backlight unit 3 has an external dimension opposite to the entire rear surface of the liquid crystal panel unit 2 and is later combined to optically seal the space sandwiched therebetween.

The light emitting unit 7 of the backlight unit 3 is formed by arranging an optical sheet block 10 and a light emitting block 11 having a plurality of light emitting diodes. The light emitting block 11 will be described in more detail later. The optical sheet block 10 is arranged to face the back of the liquid crystal panel 5 and is formed by stacking various optically functional sheets such as a polarization film, a retardation film, a prism sheet, or a diffusion film. A light diffusion / guide plate 14, a diffusion plate 15, and a reflective sheet for reflecting light, including an optically functional sheet laminate 13. reflection sheet) 16 together with the other elements. Although the optical functional sheet stack 13 is not described in more detail, a functional sheet for decomposing display light supplied from the light emitting block 11 into vertical polar components to enter the liquid crystal panel 5, and a light wave Is formed by stacking a plurality of optical function sheets having optical functions such as a function sheet for correcting the retardation of the phase difference to prevent an extended field of view or coloring, and a function sheet for diffusing display light. However, the constituent sheets of the optical functional sheet laminate 13 are not limited to those listed above, but additionally or selectively, a pair of upper and lower portions interposed between the luminance enhancing film and / or the retardation film and the prism sheet for luminance enhancement. It may also include a diffusion sheet.

The light emitting block 11 includes red LEDs 12a, green LEDs 12b, and blue LEDs 12c, each of which is appropriately selected, and the LEDs of each color are uniformly directed in the same direction as in the arrangement example shown in FIG. It is arranged with the polarity of the LED. The backlight unit 3 of the present embodiment is composed of a total of 18 light emitting blocks 11 each having a total of 25 LEDs and operating as one unit.

The arrangement of LEDs 12 in FIG. 3 is just one example. The combination of the number of LEDs of each unit mounted on the liquid crystal display device and LEDs of different colors is appropriately selected depending on the size of the display screen and the light emitting capacity of each LED 12.

In the optical sheet block 10, the light diffusion / induction plate 14 is laminated and disposed on the main substrate side of the optical function sheet stack 13 which is located facing the liquid crystal panel 5. The display light supplied from the light emitting block 11 enters the light diffusion / guide plate 14 at its rear side. The light diffusion / guide plate 14 is a plate having a very thick thickness and is generally formed of a transparent synthetic resin having a light induction, for example, a mold acrylic resin or a polycarbonate resin. The light diffusion / induction plate 14 diffuses the display light coming from one side of the main board into the optical function sheet stack 13 so as to be incident from the other side of the main board. As shown in FIG. 4, the light diffusion / guide plate 14 is fixed to the optical function sheet stack 13 via the bracket member 14a on the outer wall 9a of the back panel 9.

In the optical sheet block 10, the diffuser plate 15 and the reflector plate 16 are both fixed to the back panel 9 and separated from each other, and the gap separating them from the light diffusion / guide plate 14, respectively. It is held by a plurality of optical stud members (not shown). The diffusion plate 15 is generally formed by molding a transparent synthetic resin material such as an acrylic resin and receives display light supplied from the light emitting block 11. A plurality of dimmer dots 15a are each arranged and arranged opposite to a very large number of LEDs 12 of light emitting blocks 11 arranged in the arrangement described below.

On the diffuser plate 15, a circular dot is formed on the surface of the plate 15 by screen printing using an ink formed by mixing a light blocking agent such as titanium oxide or barium sulfide and a diffusing agent such as glass powder or silicon oxide. The dot pattern 15a is formed by printing a dot pattern. Therefore, the diffuser plate 15 sensitizes the display light supplied from the light emitting block 11 before being incident by the dimming point 15a. As indicated above, the dimming points 15a are disposed and arranged respectively opposite the LEDs 12. Since they partially block the display light incident directly from the LED 12 and reflect toward the reflective sheet 16, which will be described later in more detail later, the incident light is prevented from partially increasing in brightness and uniformly the optical function sheet laminate It enters (13).

In the optical sheet block 10, a partially emitted display light is emitted from the LED 12 as described above to prevent locally generated high luminance sites when directly entering the light diffusion / guide plate 14. The displayed display light is partially emitted by the diffuser plate 15. Therefore, the optical sheet block 10 improves the light efficiency by causing the display light to be emitted by the diffuser plate 15 and reflected back through the diffuser plate 15 toward the light diffusion / guide plate 14. The reflective sheet 16 is generally formed by molding a foamable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material containing a fluorescent material. The foamable PET material has a high reflectivity of about 95% and exhibits a tint that makes the scratches of the reflecting surface different from metallic gloss inconspicuous. The reflective sheet 16 may be selectively formed of silver, aluminum, stainless steel, or the like, which may represent a mirror surface.

The optical sheet block 10 also allows the diffuser plate 15 to reflect the display light incident on the surface when the display light emitted from the LED 12 is partially incident on the diffuser plate 15 beyond the critical angle. It is composed. Therefore, a part of the reflected light from the surface of the diffuser plate 15 and the display light emitted from the LED 12 and radiated and reflected by the reflecting sheet 16 is controlled by the principle of intensification of reflection. In order to improve the reflectance, the light is repeatedly reflected between the diffuser plate 15 and the reflective sheet 16.

Hereinafter, the controller 20 for adjusting and controlling the light emission rate of the backlight unit will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 5, the controller 20 measures a pair of photo-sensors 21a and 21b for detecting the emission rate of each LED 12 and the amount of heat generated by the backlight unit 3. Outputs a temperature sensor 22 for detection, a sensor input unit 23 for inputting detection values of the photosensors 21a and 21b and the temperature sensor 22, and a quantity of light serving as a reference for each LED 12 The reference light quantity output unit 24 for setting the current, the setting condition determining unit 25 for determining the condition to be set in the backlight unit 3, and a current according to the determination result of the setting condition determining unit 25 for each LED. And a current supply unit 26 for supplying, and an operation unit 27 for generating an operation signal according to a user's operation.

The photosensors 21a and 21b detect the light emission rate of each LED 12 and supply the detected light emission rate to the sensor input unit 13.

The temperature sensor 22 detects the temperature of the backlight unit 3 and supplies the detected temperature to the sensor input unit 23.

The reference light amount output unit 24 supplies the light amount as a reference to each of the LEDs 12 and the setting condition determining unit 25 of the light emitting block 11.

The setting condition determiner 25 is configured to detect the detected value of each LED 12 input through the sensor input unit 23, the detected temperature of the backlight unit 3, and the respective LEDs supplied from the reference light output 24. The amount of current supplied to the blue LED 12c is determined based on the reference light emission rate. The current supplied to the blue LED 12c represents a constant value which does not change due to temperature change. Thereafter, the setting condition determining unit 25 determines the amount of current to be supplied to the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b based on the amount of current determined to be supplied to the blue LED 12c. The setting condition determiner 25 supplies the current value determined for each LED to the current supply unit 26.

The current supply unit 26 supplies the backlight unit 3 with a current corresponding to the current value of each LED 12 supplied from the setting condition determining unit 25.

The operation unit 27 generates an operation signal according to a user's operation and supplies the generated operation signal to the reference light output 24 and the current supply unit 26. The reference light amount output unit 24 adjusts the reference light amount according to the operation signal supplied from the operation unit 27 and supplies the adjusted reference light amount to the setting condition determining unit 25. The current supply unit 26 adjusts the constant current supplied to the blue LED 12c in response to the instruction sent from the setting condition determining unit 25 in response to the operation signal supplied from the operation unit 27, and adjusts the adjusted current to the backlight unit ( Supply to 3). The current supply unit 26 also adjusts the current supplied to the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b according to the current supplied to the blue LED 12c, and supplies the adjusted current to the backlight unit 3.

The characteristic of the blue LED 12c is demonstrated below. As indicated in the graph of FIG. 6 showing the relationship between device temperature and relative luminance of each color, the brightness of the blue LED 12c is virtually unchanged for any temperature change, while the red LED 12a and the green LED ( The brightness of 12c) changes noticeably with temperature change.

On the other hand, the blue LED 12c has no significant influence on the brightness of the liquid crystal display panel and therefore the blue LED 12c is rarely used as a reference for adjustment. However, optical sensors can detect blue light accurately and most sensitively. Moreover, the blue LED 12c is stable and has no variation in terms of brightness reduction due to the reduction in life compared with the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b. Also, with respect to the temperature / luminance characteristics of the blue LED 12c, the brightness of the blue LED 12c increases by about 10% within a predetermined junction temperature range (between 35 ° C and 95 ° C), but is composed of a CCFL. This change in luminance can occur in the light source of, and can be neglected without problems since it is observed as an initial luminance drift in televisions consisting of cathode ray tubes.

As shown in FIG. 7, the controller 20 is configured to increase the current supplied to the blue LED 12c and the current supplied to the green LED 12b and the red LED 12a as the temperature rises (of the LED substrate). Adjust the white balance based on

Therefore, the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b while maintaining the current supplied to the blue LED 12c showing a relatively small temperature change according to the detection output of the optical sensor with respect to the blue LED 12c at a constant level. By performing a feedback operation on the current supplied to the controller, a simple and stable feedback system for the control device 20 can be constructed.

In addition, the controller 20 can operate the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b under substantially equivalent conditions by appropriately selecting the operating conditions of the blue LED 12c, so that any additional life timer can be used. Instead, the lifetime of the backlight unit 3 can be grasped by simply referring to the lifetime of the blue LED 12c. Moreover, the current supplied to the blue LED 12c is maintained at a constant level so that the red LED 12a and the green LED 12b are not overloaded for feedback operation, so that the characteristics naturally occurring after the switch is turned on can be obtained. As a result, it is possible to secure a natural life reduction curve that extends the life of the backlight unit 3.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and can be modified and changed in various ways without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Accordingly, it will be apparent that various modifications, combinations, partial combinations, and changes may occur to those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof, depending on design needs or other factors.

Therefore, the control device according to the present invention maintains the current supplied to the blue LED exhibiting a relatively small temperature change at a constant level, thereby feeding back the current supplied to the red LED and the green LED according to the detection output of the optical sensor for the blue LED. This allows a simple feedback system to be constructed.

Claims (5)

delete A control device for controlling a backlight unit having a light emitting device group comprising a red light emitting device, a green light emitting device, and a blue light emitting device, wherein light emitting devices of different colors are independently electrically connected. Is, Current supply means for supplying a predetermined driving current to the light emitting device group; Light-emitting amount detecting means for detecting a light-emitting amount from the light emitting element group as a function of the current supplied from the current supply means; Temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of the backlight unit; Reference light quantity output means for outputting a reference light quantity for the light emitting elements of each color; A predetermined driving current is supplied to the blue light emitting device according to the light emission amount detected by the light emission amount detecting means, the temperature detected by the temperature detection means, and the reference light amount output from the reference light amount output means, and is supplied to the blue light emitting device. Control means for controlling the current supply means to supply a predetermined driving current to the red and green light emitting elements according to a predetermined driving current; Consists of operation signal generating means for generating a predetermined operation signal, The current supply means changes the value of the constant drive current supplied to the blue light emitting element under a control of the control means to an arbitrary current value under the control of the control means, and further controls the supply current supplied to the red and green light emitting elements. And change the value according to the changed current value. 3. The method of claim 2, And said operation signal generating means generates an operation signal for manipulating the brightness of said backlight. 3. The method of claim 2, And the operation signal generating means generates an operation signal for operating the color temperature of the backlight. delete

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